An industrial city in southeastern Ontario, Canada, north of Lake Erie; pop. 303,165

The capital of the United Kingdom, in southeastern England on the Thames River; pop. 6,377,000. London, called Londinium, was settled as a river port and trading center shortly after the Roman invasion of ad 43 and has been a flourishing center since the Middle Ages.It is divided administratively into the City of London, which is the country's financial center, and 32 boroughs

the capital and largest city of England; located on the Thames in southeastern England; financial and industrial and cultural center

London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It is the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures.

United States writer of novels based on experiences in the Klondike gold rush (1876-1916)

The rest of the week

These photos are from a walk my Historic Class took to get a guidedtour of the guildhall. The guildhall had been the main "city hall" ofsorts for London for many centuries now. At least since the 1700s. SoWednesday I had some classes and all is going pretty well. I juststarted to figure out what books I will need to buy and what books theyhave usually available in the library. Already it looks likeStructural Mechanics a first year course here is going to be difficultbecause I don't know how to balance the forces. So I will try tolearn, but it is now Friday and the 2 books I ordered and my absenteeballot have not arrived in the mail. For some reason, I am not nearlyas confident yet with the mail system here. I don't know how long itwill take to get things. I think and hope that they will come soon.So Wednesday afternoon after the rain came and went many a time I wentto my Historic London Class. I am quite excited about this one as Iwill get to see and experience parts of London that I hadn't know of orcouldn't go to see myself. So I am excited. We went to the Guildhallwhich is like the city hall where the Corporation of London is located. It is made up of 105 livery companies which are kind of like unions(of every kind from candle makers to butchers to the police.) This ispossible since London is autonomous. We went for a tour and were onlyable to visit the Great Hall for a little bit and then be told morelater because they were setting up for a charity event. The tour guidetold us many useless facts including how many roofs the building hashad (6) not counting temporaries I think. He was also able to recitethe names of the 105 Livery companies. Had we been in the hall wherethe flags for each livery was he could have pointed at any one and beenable to tell us exactly what it was. All this was explained to us aswe sat in the Old Library. We also got to take a quick look at thecrypt of the building. Next we went next door to the new Art Gallerywhich has many nice paintings and has the remains of the RomanAmphitheatre. Very nicely shown and illustrated. As most of thebuilding was not made of brick much most of it does not exist. We wereable to see the drain tiles which were underneath the sand floor andthese were made out of timber and were perfectly preserved. TheAmphitheatre had been hypothesised for a long time as almost anywhereRomans went they built an amphitheatre, but until the late 80's early90's it had not been found in Lodinium (Roman name of London). Itseems that parts were found then but much of it hadn't been figuredout. When they were going to build the art gallery they found the restof the remains and we were able to walk into the amphitheatre in thesame spot as gladiators of old would have. After seeing the remains Ilingered in the art Gallery then walked back and made dinner.

The next day I didn't have any class until the late afternoon the sameas Wednesday. I decided I would try to register at the GP. I made myway there having figured out how to get there now and filled out just afew forms (less than the average doctor in the US) and now I havehealthcare. After this I walked up to King's Cross (most areas areeither known for the name of their Tube Stop or what used to beprevalent there like Clerkenwell (a well were the clerks- watch makersand jewellers would come to eat and drink.)) I went up there and wasable to get my ISIC (International Student Identity Card). I alsofound out about many many travel shops up there including STA (where Igot the card) and many other places that have packages for students.STA has connections with TopDeck which does daytrips on Sundays inEngland. I may do one weekend when it is something interesting and notsomething I have seen already like Bath (although I would like to spendmore time there) and Stonehenge. I stopped at a take out place and gota fallafel salad and humus sandwich and drink for ?4. That is a prettygood price for food. I then had extra time so I went to a park and satthere for a while before heading to my one class. I went to Class andthen to the library. The class is super boring and there is no examonly one coursework this term. It is called Engineering management butreally we haven't had any good lecturers both spent time in Industryand are rather boring. At the library I got a bunch of books. Thenwent back and not too long later started making dinner.

Today, FridaySpent almost of all of my day trying to get some courseworks done. Ihave succeeded a bit but overall still have more to do. The mainproblem is that my textbooks haven't come in yet and the librarydoesn't have free copies. The interesting thing here is that theydon't teach out of the book. It is more meant to be reference and anextra help for you as you only have lecturers once a week. I think Iwill spend some more time on it tonite. After I take my nap.

Burj Al Arab-2

The Burj Al Arab (Arabic: ??? ??????,Tower of the Arabs) is a 5-star rated luxury hotel located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. At 321 m (1,053 ft), it is the fourth tallest hotel in the world. The Burj Al Arab stands on an artificial island 280 m (920 ft) out from Jumeirah beach, and is connected to the mainland by a private curving bridge. It is an iconic structure whose shape mimics the sail of a ship.

The beachfront area where the Burj Al Arab and Jumeirah Beach Hotel are located was previously called Chicago Beach. The hotel is located on an island of reclaimed land 280 meters offshore of the beach of the former Chicago Beach Hotel.[6] The locale's name had its origins in the Chicago Bridge & Iron Company which at one time welded giant floating oil storage tankers on the site.

The old name persisted after the old Hotel was demolished in 1997. Dubai Chicago Beach Hotel remained as the Public Project Name for the construction phase of the Burj Al Arab Hotel until Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum announced the new name

Construction of Burj Al Arab began in 1994. It was built to resemble the sail of a dhow, a type of Arabian vessel. Two "wings" spread in a V to form a vast "mast", while the space between them is enclosed in a massive atrium. The architect Tom Wright said "The client wanted a building that would become an iconic or symbolic statement for Dubai; this is very similar to Sydney with its Opera House, London with Big Ben, or Paris with the Eiffel Tower. It needed to be a building that would become synonymous with the name of the country."

The architect and engineering consultant for the project was Atkins. Fletcher Construction from New Zealand was the lead joint venture partner in the initial stages of pre-construction and construction. The hotel was built by South African construction contractor Murray & Roberts.

The building opened in December 1999.

Several features of the hotel required complex engineering feats to achieve. The hotel rests on an artificial island constructed 280 m (920 ft) offshore. To secure a foundation, the builders drove 230 forty-meter (130 ft) long concrete piles into the sand.

Engineers created a surface layer of large rocks, which is circled with a concrete honeycomb pattern, which serves to protect the foundation from erosion. It took three years to reclaim the land from the sea, while it took fewer than three years to construct the building itself. The building contains over 70,000 m3 (92,000 cu yd) of concrete and 9,000 tons of steel.

Inside the building, the atrium is 180 m (590 ft) tall.

Burj Al Arab is the world's second tallest hotel (not including buildings with mixed use). The structure of the Rose Rayhaan, also in Dubai , is 11 m (36 ft) taller than the Burj Al Arab.

The hotel is managed by the Jumeirah Group. Despite its size, the Burj Al Arab holds only 28 double-story floors which accommodate 202 bedroom suites. The smallest suite occupies an area of 169 m2 (1,820 sq ft), the largest covers 780 m2 (8,400 sq ft)

Suites feature design details that juxtapose east and west. White columns show great influence. Bathrooms are accented by mosaic tile patterns.